Cuddle Buddy
by ShinAyasaki
Summary: Riko gets a secret cuddle buddy. Someone finds out. But having a secret cuddle buddy is normal... right?


The door to Riko's room slammed shut as a mysterious figure entered, an unwieldy package clasped in their arms. Gently, almost reverently setting the package down on the bed, the figure rushed over to the balcony door, closing it quickly before pulling the drapes. Now deprived of all possible outside surveillance, the figure returned to their package, gazing at it with a mixture of awe, admiration, and desire.

An oversized trench coat fell to the floor, quickly followed by overly baggy pants and heavy wool gloves. Long red hair spilled out of a fedora as it was removed and tossed aside, and then came the tinted sunglasses and influenza mask, revealing the giddy face of one Sakurauchi Riko.

Excitement coursing through her veins, she gently tore away the plastic packaging to reveal the body pillow underneath. As soon as it was unveiled, Riko practically squealed and threw herself on the bed, grabbing the pillow with both hands and rolling around while giggling gleefully.

She inhaled the scent of new pillow, sighing as she placed a chaste kiss on painted-on lips, for printed along the length of the body pillow was none other than the familiar image of her fellow school idol and second year, Takami Chika.

"My precious..." she murmured.

* * *

The next day, Riko hummed a cheery tune to herself as she got dressed. Today, she and her fellow second years had elected to go on a small hiking excursion through some of the local footpaths, complete with a picnic lunch prepared and packed by supreme chef Watanabe You herself. She ran a brush through her long hair, occasionally pausing to glance happily at her beloved pillow Chika. It had been quite the night for both of them.

The sound of a nearby thump caught Riko's attention, and the girl set down her brush and looked around in confusion. It was just about time for her to leave with Chika and You, but mysterious noises like this warranted investigation. She turned to check the hallway when a knocking sounded throughout her room.

The noise couldn't possibly be from the front door. No, instead if was coming from... her balcony?

Riko pulled back the curtains and jumped in surprise as she saw You's bright blue eyes, the brunette looking back at her with a grin.

"You-chan?! What are you doing here?" asked Riko as she opened the door.

"Heya Riko-chan! Chika-chan's making some last minute preparations, so I gave her the lunch basket and said I'd come get you."

"So you jumped across from her balcony?!"

"Yup! Pretty neat, right?"

Riko didn't know what to say. Only You would think of jumping from balcony to balcony as a means of transportation, and only You would think it a good idea. "I... suppose it worked. Anyway, I'm just about done. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes after I brush my hair."

"Let me help!" declared You as she barged into Riko's room.

"Wha-! You-chan, no!" panicked Riko, desperately trying to usher the brunette away.

"Why?" asked You, picking up the hairbrush, "It's just-" Her eyes stopped on the Chika pillow, and Riko could slowly feel her life draining away.

It hadn't even been 24 hours yet!

Silence reigned, the pale girl getting paler by the second.

"Oh," acknowledged You nonchalantly. "You have a body pillow of Chika-chan too."

You slapped a hand over her mouth as she realized what she just said.

Though she was still white as a ghost, the color stopped draining from Riko's face. "...Yes, I do. What do you mean by, 'too'?"

The brunette shifted her eyes to her feet as she mumbled, "...I got mine last week."

The two stood in awkward confession.

"...It's the special swimsuit edition," continued You, in an attempt to make their situation less awkward.

It didn't work.

You and Riko stood in silence, their gazes everywhere but at each other. Then it seemed as if they each acted as one.

"I'll be heading down now," said Riko as she grabbed her bag and fled further into her house, just as You said, "I'll see you downstairs," and jumped back across to Chika's room.

Left unsaid was the unspoken agreement they made to never talk about this again.

* * *

But it was hard for Riko to not talk about it again, not with You's words echoing in her mind.

' _Special swimsuit edition... special swimsuit edition... special swimsuit edition..._ '

You couldn't just drop those words and not expect Riko to follow up on it. No way! Riko needed to see what that looked like, needed to commit the image to memory, needed to hold the body pillow and imagine the flawless ivory of Chika's bare skin against her own as she slept, needed to-!

Well, maybe she needed to calm down first.

It was a week later when she approached You about it. After one of their idol practices, she'd cornered the diver and practically begged her to see the special swimsuit edition. You caved after only two and a half minutes of begging.

"Here she is!" presented You, with only the slightest blush on her face. The two second years had practically flown to You's house with how fast they'd left, shouting some excuse about errands.

"She... she's beautiful...!" whispered Riko as she gazed upon this masterpiece.

Lying on You's bed in all its pillowy glory was Chika, the red-eyed ginger clad in an orange bikini decorated with little white flowers and a sunhat on her head. Though the picture was tasteful, it showed off far more of Chika's cleavage and figure than Riko's body pillow did. There was only so much a school uniform could show off, after all. The redhead licked her lips in desire, but managed to stop herself from drooling.

"How did you even get one of these? They're supposed to be Ultra Rare goods!"

You shrugged. "I just went into the store and told them who I was, and I got it for free."

The redhead frowned, experiencing flashbacks to her own trek into Akiba to secure a Chika pillow. "Well it's very nice."

"I know right? It's a big improvement over the old one!"

You slapped a hand over her mouth as she realized what she just said.

Riko raised an eyebrow in curiosity and stared pointedly at You. She wasn't going to let this go.

"Ah... I tried making my own a few months ago," admitted the brunette. She reached into her closet and emerged with a different body pillow, this one lovingly crafted and hand drawn with Chika wearing pajamas. "It... It helped me get through some tough times."

"You made this yourself? This looks amazing."

"Haha, you're too kind..."

"So anyway, can I borrow your special swimsuit edition?" asked Riko.

"No," denied You immediately.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?!"

"No."

" _PLEASE_?!"

"No."

* * *

Sadly for Riko, she was unable to get You to relinquish her special swimsuit edition Chika.

And with that, she thought it was the end of the body pillow incident. A week later however, proved her wrong.

Riko had invited Chika and You to a day of shopping at Akiba, the three of them agreeing to meet at the bus stop in front of Chika's ryokan. And of course, Chika was the late one. After fifteen minutes of conversation (during which You cheekily asked Riko if she wanted to buy her own special swimsuit edition Chika while they were there, much to Riko's annoyance), they eventually got fed up with waiting and went to find out what was taking the ginger so long.

"Chika hasn't come down yet," remarked Mito-nee. She sighed and offered a careless shrug. "Knowing her she's probably still asleep. Feel free to go upstairs and wake her up. You know which room is hers."

You and Riko exchanged glances before doing just that.

"Yo! Chika-chan, are you home?" asked You, pushing aside the door. What she saw made her startle and recoil, bumping into Riko.

"You-chan? Is everything okay?"

"T-Take a look," replied the brunette.

Riko stuck her head over You's shoulder and gasped. Sprawled out over her bed without a single cover was Chika, still asleep and with her shirt partially ridden up. Held in each of her arms were body pillows, one of You, one of Riko.

"What should we do?" asked Riko. She felt somewhat stunned that Chika would have either of these, but also relieved. After all, if she had a body pillow of Chika and Chika had a body pillow of her, that meant neither of them were being creepy... right?

A small smile crossed You's face. "I think it's nap time," she said simply. "Don't you?"

The redhead nodded, and the pair approached the slumbering ginger. Riko took care as she removed the body pillow of her likeness, gently tugging it from Chika's embrace.

"Whoa. These are custom made!" remarked You, "Chika-chan must have paid a lot for these!"

"What do you mean?"

"Look!" You turned over the image of classic You to the other side, where a swimsuit edition You awaited. "You can't buy this in stores."

Riko idly wondered if it was too late to get her own special swimsuit edition You (the special swimsuit edition Chika had already sold out), before flipping her own pillow. Her face flushed as she looked upon the image of swimsuit edition Riko. Embarrassed, she quickly shoved it under Chika's bed, right next to a suspiciously large box labelled 'Mikans'.

Following You's lead, she got onto the bed as quietly as she could manage, just in time for Chika to pull them both closer. She suddenly found her golden-eyed gaze staring straight into You's bright blue eyes, their heads resting below Chika's chin.

"Comfortable?" asked You softly.

Though Riko found it difficult to speak, she managed a quiet yes. "Are you?"

"Very," giggled the brunette. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to them both, her hand coming to rest on Riko's. "Good night, Riko-chan."

"Good night, You-chan."

* * *

The sun was cresting the sky as scarlet eyes fluttered open, Chika coming out of her slumber with a small yawn. She tried sitting up, but only managed a fraction of the way when she encountered some unexpected resistance.

The ginger looked to the brunette curled up against her side like an adorable puppy, then at the redhead nuzzled against her with an arm thrown over her. Her crimson eyes exploded as the reality of the situation hit her.

"They turned into real girls!"

.

.

.

 **Omake:**

Riko: So you thought your pillows turned into real girls? Why would you feel the need to apologize so profusely for that?

Chika: Let's just say I've done plenty of naughty things with both of those pillows.

You: Would you like to do plenty of naughty things with both of these girls?

Chika: ...Yes.

* * *

 **AN: Well, credit where credit's due: This was actually inspired by a story on AO3 called "The Body Pillow". It's a ChikaRiko story written by Uncle_Riko, so check it out if you're interested.  
**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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